The encounter

Today the orthodox churches celebrate the “meeting” or “encounter.” Other churches refer to it as the presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple. Under Jewish law, it was a custom and a requirement that the first born male child should be brought to the temple to be dedicated to God and the requirement under that law that mothers be purified forty days after the birth of a child. The Purification Rite was required at one time in some Christian churches as well. It was used to re-establish the woman into the temple community, as giving birth was considered a defilement of sorts.

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